Sugar Hill is sweet on neighbor

Early next year, a 13-story, 124-unit affordable-housing building will open on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 155th Street in Sugar Hill. The $89 million property is the product of Broadway Housing Communities, and is the largest one the group has built in its more than 30 years of providing long-term housing for formerly homeless individuals. Yet even at that size, the building has aroused little opposition, a response BHC founder and Executive Director Ellen Baxter attributes to the close relationships she formed over the decades.

"It's helpful to be in a community that your work is well known in when looking for a large real estate opportunity," said Ms. Baxter, who has completed six other projects in northern Manhattan. The fact that the new building differs from its BHC predecessors may also have helped. Only 20% of the units will be reserved for the formerly homeless, while the remainder will go to low-income tenants. The property will also have an -early childhood education center, a children's museum of art and storytelling, retail space and underground parking. "Broadway Housing is an excellent program and is fulfilling the needs of people who are down on their luck," said Yuien Chin, executive director of the West Harlem Community Preservation Organization. Nonetheless, she does have one gripe with the new neighbor. "The design of the building ... stands out in a very aggressive way," she said.

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